Adonis: An Oral Biography
by livingdeadletter
Summary: A strange young man leads a revolution, one person at a time. This is his biography, told in the words of the people he has touched.
1. Prologue

"I can't stay here, Mom." 

"Addie, I know that. You don't need to explain yourself."

"Then stop making me feel like I do."

"You think I didn't see this day coming? I always knew you'd leave me and the family, ever since you were born in Alinor. There's more to life than Summerset Isle. I love you, Adonis, and I want you to be happy, you know that."

"So remind me, then, why you make me feel bad about everything I do."

"It's so easy to be sarcastic. I'm giving you my permission to leave, and you're turning me into the enemy."

"I'm not turning you into the enemy. I just feel guilty leaving you."

"We've never gotten along, don't turn yourself into the good son now. You need to find out what you want from life and take it."

"Mom, it's not that. It's the god damned prophecy."

"What, a few people start some rumors about you being chosen, and you start doubting yourself? That's not like you, Addie. Stop acting like this, you're scaring me."

"Scaring you? I'm not nervous about myself, I'm nervous about…"

"About what?"

"What if the prophecy comes true?"

"Goodbye, Adonis."

"I'll come back…

I promise."


	2. Overture: The Legend

**Octavian Voras (Imperial Guard, Solstheim):** Living where I do, I didn't meet Adonis until after the First Wave. The most important skill a guard can have is the ability to read people. Just from looking at someone, I have to be able to tell you where they live, their family history, their skills, weaknesses, how they're feeling today, the chances of them committing a crime, and I have to be able to do all of this on a moment's notice. I was on duty at the docks when the Jade Hawk sailed in. I see that ship floating above the water, landing itself in the sea perfectly, throwing it's own ropes, tying itself up. I watch the hatch open, and I see that thing walk out…not mortal, but not Daedra, and I don't know much about the Divines, but this kid surely wasn't one. Just looking at him puts the fear of the Gods into me. He walks over to me, looks at me with those eyes, and shakes my hand, looking not at me, but _into_ me. So here I am, talking to the owner of a flying ship, scared to death, and he's shooting the breeze with me like we've been buddies for ages. It felt like we were, too. We talk for a few minutes, and he turns away, and then turns back and says "You gonna be okay?" I tell him how much he intimidates me. I don't know why, but something about his face, those eyes, I trust him. He looks at me, again, into me, through me, and says "Relax. I don't bite." Just his stare could tame the fiercest storm. Those eyes were so much wilder than any winter ocean that nothing could hope to stand up to him. Well, anyways, he invites me to come get a drink with him, and tells me to bring all my friends. I call over a few of the guards, forgetting to introduce him, and we head over to the pub. After a few drinks, he starts talking crazy, and I mean crazy. It's here I realize that I couldn't introduce him to Ralus and the guys, not because I forgot to, but because he didn't introduce himself to me. The four of us are sitting here with this guy who could have been our best friend and we wouldn't have known the difference, but as soon as he tells us that the Imperial Legion is chasing him, we all know. This is Adonis Fiere, that crazy son of a bitch from Skywatch. Everyone realizes it at the same time, trying not to, but acting out his own shock. We all instantly think of all the warnings we've heard, the wanted posters we see every day. The rumors that pass in and out of our ears with every person we speak with, the reports of cults popping up all over Tamriel, the stories about him defeating armies single handedly. The guard captain warned us he might come here, but no one thought he would ever come to Solstheim... why would he? We were told that everywhere he goes he puts a spell over the entire area, turning people into slaves, completely under his control. When that thought enters my mind, I get all paranoid about his eyes, thinking they've put me under a spell, but after another minute of just watching him, being near him, consumed by his attention, I realize that it wasn't magic he was working on everybody, it was just charm. So he gets really into all the crazy shit he's saying, and after a while, well, I think I'm starting to believe him. You can't doubt someone who's that sure of what he's saying. I'd heard stories about him before, mostly what I consider to be tall tales, pure exaggeration. After what I heard him say and saw him do that night, all I can say is that I don't know what he is, or if everything he told us and showed us was just another measure of control, but Adonis has to be the most exceptional person I've ever met.

**Cyrus the Sickly (Beggar and drunk, Rihad, Hammerfell):** Let me tell you a little story if you think you've got interesting ones. Met this fellow, this Adonis about ten years back. He stood in the town square, preaching all sorts of blasphemous gruel and anti-Empire rambling. Now of course people gathered around him, and no matter what attitude they came towards him with, as soon as he looked at you with those surreal eyes, you just couldn't stop listening. When I first heard him, I laughed at him, being the man that I am. I told him to show me how great he was, and, well he did. He looked right into me with those moon mad eyes, and killed me, stabbed me right through the neck. I could see him smiling as I died. Those damn eyes laughing at me, following my pathetic eyes as I wretched and fell to die. That wasn't what he was really here to do, that wasn't the right display of his power for the people of Rihad. That wasn't enough. Even in death, I could see him standing in front of me, staring at me. The blackness swallowed us whole, taking away the ground, the sky, Rihad, everything, and then there was nothing. Just Adonis and me, in an infinite place and time. I could feel the wound in my neck seal, the blood dry and clean itself from my tunic. I felt him there, around me, through me. He wasn't in this place with me, he was the place. He sat down next to my dead body, and looked down at me, smiling that ever reassuring warm smile, and told me who he was. I couldn't believe it, but beyond anything I'd ever understood, I did. He told me he was going to make everything okay, so that I could stop worrying. He said "Breathe in and out. Let go of your feelings. Just let go." I felt more at ease than I have in my life. When I opened my eyes, he was in still sitting in the same place, smiling at me, showing his teeth now. I looked around, to find myself back in the center of Rihad, where I fell to my death minutes before. After he resurrected me, he didn't stop there, oh no, he _levitated_. That's right. Flew around and about Rihad, then right back up to that ship of his. No one believed what just happened, but at the same time, we all just believed. Everyone looked around in horror. The blood from my neck was gone, the wound healed, no scar left, and I stood alive. Absolutely amazing. I'll tell ya, he got what was comin' to him.

**M'aiq the Liar (Vagrant):** M'aiq will tell you something. That Fiere character, he was not a high elf. He looked like one, that's for sure, but he was not. He was some hybrid offspring, the next evolution of the Mer, something beyond what we can even imagine.

**Baurus (former Blade, CRT):** What was he? Hell if I know. He was the best swordsman I've ever seen. Threw around two rapiers like _nothing_ I've ever seen. Told me he didn't like to fight, though. I don't know how you become that skilled with magic, bow and blade without loving to fight. Whatever the case, Adonis is the greatest thing that ever happened to Tamriel.

**Rah'zaani (Skooma Dealer and follower):** There are as many rumors about his death as there are about his life. Many seem to be convinced that the Imperial Legion defeated him. Is their faith so weak that they forget the Battle of The Niben Break? Does no one remember his miracles? You really believe it was by chance rather than the work of the Great Adonis that White Gold Tower relinquished the Ayleid souls it carried? Over two thousand witnesses saw those souls spout out of the tower like it was a fountain. The best reassurance of his continued life that I have is very simply that was not a person. The Empire would much like to tell you that, I'm sure, but do not be fooled, as someone who met firsthand the Great Adonis, rest assured, he lives. No mortal, Divine or Daedra has the ability to kill an idea. Adonis is immortal.

**Raminus Polus (Leading Figure, Cyrodiillic Guild of Mages):** I've never met anyone like Ad (ahem) Mr. Fiere. He came to me in a time of need, and I was more than happy to oblige. Neither of us needed an introduction. I woke up one morning, I'll never forget it, the seventeenth of Frost Fall, a Tuesday, aboard the _Jade Hawk._ No idea how I got there. He was sitting at my bedside. Mr. Fiere told me that the Empire wouldn't stand for what he'd done, that the Chancellor would try to take the throne for himself. He told me that he had to confront the Elder Council, and have Ocato reinstated, or take the throne. I thought he was crazy, but, I knew he was right. He's by far the strangest and most enigmatic, charismatic person I've ever met. I don't think any amount of experimentation or scientific observation could put us any closer to knowing him than we are now. I think it takes a leap of faith.

**Selene Lun'aria (Teacher):** Oh, I know he isn't dead. He told me that he was going to test the faith of the world at large. He didn't tell me how, but he said that he would return when the time came. He just looked at me, and I trusted him. Adonis just looked at me with those eyes, and told me if I ever lost that trust in him, he couldn't come back. He made me promise to watch the sunset every night, and sing to him. And I'll never break that promise, never, because I would never disappoint Addie. I love him with all my heart, and I can't wait to see him again. You just wait. We'll all see him again.

**Chryses Aeslin (Bard):** Have you heard some people are calling him Nerevarine? Hah, I've heard some crazy shit, and I've seen Ad do crazier, but Nerevarine?

**Cronis Audia (Philosopher):** Adonis Fiere? Like a lot of people, I didn't really know him all that well until, well, you know, his arrival in Cyrodiil. The only people that know his real history are his wife, Selene, his best friend, Chryses, and his mother. If you can get that story, please, bring it back to me. I've tried so hard for years to get that information, in hopes to put some meaning behind the blatant sociopath and cult leader that Adonis is… er… _was_.

**Sheogorath (Daedric Prince):** Adonis? Great kid, I have to say! Always a cheese lover, that one! A true model of my image. Incredible young man, really. I don't know why everyone thinks he's gone somewhere. He keeps in touch with me, we played a game of singe the tail on the Khajiit just last Tuesday! He always beats me at that, the bastard.

**Aldos Othran (Follower):** You know what I heard? Adonis wasn't really born, he was sent down as the mortal spawn of Aedra and Daedra. Right from the hands of Akatosh himself, given to all of Tamriel as the Divine gift. That was just a rumor, though, nothing the Prophet, the Queen, or the Wolf himself said.

**Heironymus Lex (Guard Captain, Anvil):** Oh please, He's just some loony kid. Don't let any of these psychopath cultists fool you. Adonis Fiere was just a charismatic, talented guy gone completely crazy.

**Cronis Audia:** The phenomenon that is or was Adonis Fiere is like nothing Tamriel has ever experienced. In a single decade he united the world against tyranny that they weren't even aware of until he showed them. Even now we don't know how successful he was, and it's been four years since his alleged death.

**Aephes Fiere (Mother):** People are always telling me what great things my little Addie has done. Selene and Chryses, mostly. They were always with him. Everyone was attached to him, but they were the only two he was attached to. I always knew it would come true. I just couldn't face telling him that. I mean, really, how are you supposed to tell your son he's going to become his first martyr?

**Chryses Aeslin:** Well, that's where it all started, you know, back in Alinor. I guess one day Ad just noticed he was different, _better._


End file.
